Aga Khan Agency for the Habitat, a new Agency of the Aga Khan Development Network, consolidating the activities of FOCUS, AKPBS and other agencies and programs

A new agency, the Aga Khan Agency for the Habitat (AKAH), has been created to expressly focus on built habitat and human settlements in high risk areas. The agency brings together the supra-national capabilities of the Ismaili Imamat’s Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) – a constellation of institutions working in complementary and synergistic ways to address the challenges of improving the living condition of marginalized peoples around the world, specifically in Africa and Asia.

AKAH works to ensure that people live in physical settings that are as safe as possible from the effects of natural disasters, that residents who do live in such high risk areas are able to cope with disasters in terms of preparedness and response, and that these settings provide access to social and financial services that lead to greater opportunities and a better quality of life.

Quote

These restored gardens are the first chahar-bagh, or four-part paradise garden to surround a Mughal tomb on the sub-continent. Built nearly a century before the Taj Mahal, the Tomb and its gardens were an expression of the love and respect borne towards the Emperor Humayun by his son, Akbar and widow, Haji Begum. The chahar-bagh was more than a pleasure garden. In the discipline and order of its landscaped geometry, its octagonal or rectangular pools, its selection of favourite plants and trees, it was an attempt to create transcendent perfection – a glimpse of paradise on earth.

The hues and scents of these gardens, the varied sources of the design elements and of the chosen construction materials, make this monument an important reminder of the power and elegance of diversity, while the sentiments that moved its patrons, united them in a shared virtue.

— Excerpt: His Highness the Aga Khan at the ceremony to inaugurate the restored Humayun’s Tomb gardens. New Delhi, India. 15 April 2003 https://the.ismaili/speeches